Spring, snowdrops, and saved seed
As we look forward to a new growing season, I look back on the snowdrop season, and think about saved seed and its genetic diversity, plus I delve into a bit of evolutionary biology
🌱 I'm Sally Morgan, an organic gardener and botanist who loves to experiment. Here you can read about matters relating to climate change, sustainability, organic gardening and growing veg, helping you to become a climate savvy gardener 🌱☀️🌧️❄️🌡️
As we approach the start of meteorological spring on 1 March, the garden is starting to burst into life, and I even spotted a brimstone fluttering along a hedge on the only sunny day of the week.
Things are really coming to life at the pond, not just with the return of our regular pair of mute swans that show up in February every year, but also a flock of mallard and the watchful presence of a heron.
I have mixed feelings about the heron. On one hand, its presence at this time of year signals that the frogs have arrived, which is always exciting. But on the other, it feasts on them, often leaving disembowelled remains and unlaid egg masses along the bank. Thankfully, with nearly 200 clumps of spawn already, it seems the frog population remain…